Chicago’s season is long beyond salvaging. Still, Monday Night Football gives the Bears one last chance to make a good impression, even if beating the Vikings (11-3) tonight is merely putting lipstick on a pig of a season.

“Any time you play an NFL game, it’s exciting, especially on Monday night, especially against a tough opponent,” right guard Roberto Garza said. “Any time you get a chance to step on the field, you want to make a statement. We haven’t done that this year. It’s time for us to go out there and get the job done.

“We’ve got two more games to try and get this ship going in the right direction.”

Chicago’s ship hit an iceberg in Cincinnati and has floundered ever since. The Bears (5-9) have been blown out by 20 points or more four times in the past nine weeks, including 36-10 in Minnesota a month ago.

Olin Kreutz, Devin Hester and Lance Briggs have openly said massive changes are coming — and are needed — in the offseason.

Yet the Bears say there have been some positives this season. The only way to get them noticed, though, is to knock off the NFC North champs tonight at Soldier Field.

“We’re not throwing in the towel,” kicker Robbie Gould said. “It’s not like we want to get blown out. We’ve got two weeks to show what we can do. We have two weeks to silence the critics. We’re going to work hard to do that.”

The Vikings, with eight wins by at least 12 points, suddenly have some work to do themselves. They’ve been soundly beaten in their last two road games, 30-17 at Arizona and 26-7 at Carolina.

“Things haven’t been as smooth as they were earlier for them,” Bears coach Lovie Smith said. “This is a big opportunity for us.”

Minnesota coach Brad Childress said the Vikings have struggled “blocking and tackling, and throwing and catching.”

The Bears know that feeling well. They also know Childress’ desire to get back on a winning track, no matter if you already have the NFC North title won, as the Vikings do, or if you’re just looking for a reason to believe in yourself, as the Bears are.

“You want to be playing good at the end of the year,” Childress said on a teleconference. “Whether it’s home, away, outside, inside; you just want to be playing good in all your phases.”

Minnesota early dominance and late struggles both start with Brett Favre. The NFL’s all-time leading passer has a career-high 104.1 passer rating, but it’s been in the 70s the last three weeks. That continues a five-year pattern of December fades for Favre.

Perhaps the most infamous one of those lost December days came in his last visit to Soldier Field. Just like now, the Bears were 5-9 then and Favre was leading a team that had already won the NFC North title but was trying to clinch home-field advantage for the playoffs. The Bears stunned the Packers 35-7 on that snowy and frigid day Dec. 23, 2007.

“That’s as convincing as we’ve ever beaten him,” linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer said. “That would be great to repeat that.”

“It was a cold day,” Smith said, “the last day he came here. Hopefully, we’ll have some more of that cold weather.”

It’s been a cold season for Chicago. It’s far too late to change that. But beating Brett Favre could at least make for a warm memory or two and help the Bears look at themselves in the mirror.

“Character does show in tough times like this,” Smith said. “When you go through adversity, real men get stronger. That’s what we’re hoping we’ll get from all of this.”

Matt Trowbridge can be reached at 815-987-1383 or mtrowbridge@rrstar.com.